Tuesday, August 03, 2010

More Gunny Goodness!

Most gun collectors accumulators that I know have two types of guns on their "To Be Collected" list:

A) The guns they can afford to purchase, and

B) The ones they can't afford to purchase. (A *MUCH* longer list...)

There's a certain category of rifle I've long looked at with lust in my heart, but will probably remain far out of reach of my monkey paws due to the relative rarity, and the accompanying high price.

I speak of the musket-stocked rifle. Every so often a rifle manufacturer will have delusions of selling a sporting rifle as a military rifle, so they slap on a full-length stock and go shopping it out to Third World dictators.

OK, not really... I can't say for certain why the musket stock stuck around after the muzzle-loading rifled muskets were made obsolete by breech-loading cartridge rifles, but a full-length stock on a longarm had been de rigueur for 300+ years, so perhaps that's why they stayed in fashion. That, and it's a handy way to keep your magazine tube from getting dinged up and impairing the proper feed of rounds into the action.

I can't explain why the look appeals to me so much. Maybe it's a visual representation of the transition between eras, or the way the bare metal of the barrel is clad by the organic embrace of polished walnut. Heck, maybe I just like barrel bands. Hard to say...

Here's a collection of musket-stocked rifles:(Click pic to embiggenate!)

I saw a version of the musket-stocked firearm that I've never seen before, and it sent massive waves of WANT!!! throughout my brain.

Alas, at a price tag of $2000, it will remain a Want, not a Have. At least for the foreseeable future.